To represent the South in at the conclusion of the war, Confederate generals and rebel leaders took to the stands in Congress. During the duration of the war, the Northerners controlled all of Congress, so when Southern Congressmen stepped up they were met with opposition. The slaves now were considered men not property, so instead counting as 3/5th a man they now counted as full people. This gave the South 12 more electoral votes, giving them more representation in Washington. Theoretically, the South could reunite with the Northern democrats, eventually taking Congress and pass laws that would virtually re-enslave blacks through the Black Codes. Johnson tried to veto the Freedmen's Bureau, but congress overrode his veto, grating Blacks with all privileges of an American Citizen to blacks. Fearing the repeal of this law, they attempted to make it the 14th amendment. This Amendment gave civil rights and citizenship to freed slaves, reduced the representation of states which forbade blacks to vote, and disqualified Confederate rebels from holding state and federal offices; furthermore, it guaranteed the federal debt. In 1866 the Republicans gained even greater control over congress in the Congressional Elections. This new Congress campaigned for civil rights and racial equality. By 1867 Congress concluded that vote must extend to all freedmen. The 15th amendment assured this freedom to blacks. The Reconstruction Act of 1867 divided the South into 5 main districts,, in which were patrolled by Union soldiers. If states wanted readmission they must comply with the Northern qualifications- recognized black freedom was among one of them. .
The Veto-proof Republican Congress passed the Radical Reconstruction Act in 1867, which altered the process of how states were readmitted. First, they had to accept the 14th amendment, which recognized blacks voting rights and gave protections for freed blacks in their state constitutions.